Episode No. 403 features artists Lubaina Himid and Sheila Pepe.

The New Museum is presenting "Lubaina Himid: Work from Underneath" through October 6. It is Himid's first solo museum exhibition in the United States. Lubaina Himid was a pioneer of the British Black Arts Movement of the 1980s and '90s. Her work has consistently examined the consequences of colonialism while celebrating the African diaspora, all while making use of the art historical constructs devised by the cultures she critiques. The exhibition was curated by Natalie Bell. The New Museum published an excellent catalogue for the show. Amazon offers it for just $17!

Himid's work has been the subject of recent solo shows at the Baltic Center for Contemporary Art and the Platt Hall Museum of Costume at the Manchester Galleries. She was included in the 2018 Berlin Biennale. Her work is well held by the Tate Britain. She won the 2017 Turner Prize.

On the second segment, Sheila Pepe discusses work of hers on view -- 19 in all! -- in "Queer Abstraction" at the Des Moines Art Center. Pepe's  work often brings craft techniques to sculpture and installation, expanding the possibilities of both technique and media. A recent mid-career survey of Pepe's work, titled "Hot Mess Formalism," originated at the Phoenix Museum of Art and traveled to the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, and to the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Mass.

"Queer Abstraction" is on view through September 8. It was curated by Jared Ledesma. The fine catalogue was published by DMAC, but is not yet available online. 

Episode No. 402 features curator and art historian H. Daniel Peck and curator Elizabeth Morrison.

The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, New York is presenting "Thomas Cole's Refrain: The Paintings of Catskill Creek." For the first time, the exhibition considers Cole's paintings of Catskill Creek, a 46-mile long river that drains part of the Catskill Mountains and enters the Hudson just below the town of Catskill, as a series. It includes 12 Coles and paintings of Catskill Creek by artists who followed Cole, including Asher B. Durand and Frederic Edwin Church. "Thomas Cole's Refrain" was curated by H. Daniel Peck, a professor emeritus at Vassar College and is on view through November 3 before traveling to the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, NY. Peck is also the author of an excellent accompanying book also titled "Thomas Cole's Refrain." It was published by Cornell University Press's Three Hills imprint. Amazon offers it for $32.

On the second segment, the J. Paul Getty Museum's Elizabeth Morrison discusses "Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World," which she curated with assistance from with Larisa Grollemond. The bestiary is the tradition that brought animals -- both real and imagined -- to the pages of manuscripts, tapestries and to all manner of objects during the Middle Ages. The Getty exhibition includes not just manuscripts and tapestries, but also paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and contemporary works that demonstrate the influence of the 1,500-year-old bestiary tradition. It's on view at the Getty Center through August 18. The terrific exhibition catalogue was published by the Getty. Amazon offers its for $60.

Episode No. 401 features artist Leonardo Drew.

The Madison Square Park Conservancy in New York is presenting "Leonardo Drew: City in the Grass." Drew's over 100-foot-long work presents an abstracted cityscape atop a patterned, carpet-recalling panorama. It is on view through December 15. Drew's work is also on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in "Open House: Elliott Hundley," a collection installation that Hundley curated. It's at MOCA's Arata Isozaki-designed building through September 16.

Leonardo Drew makes sculptures and works on paper from natural materials that Drew has often oxidized, burned or otherwise nudged toward collapse. His work often references American and trans-Atlantic history and social injustice. In 2009 the Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston organized a mid-career survey of his work.

Episode No. 400 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features a previously aired conversation between host Tyler Green and Carrie Moyer. 

Moyer is included in "Queer Abstraction" at the Des Moines Art Center, a show which looks at how LGBTQ artists have used abstraction to address sexuality and gender. The show, which was curated by Jared Ledesma, is in Iowa through September 8.